Missing my baby boy...

So I think this is the longest I have been without seeing Parker! Well, I guess I did "see" him last night, but he was sleeping so he didn't see me. Yesterday morning I dropped him off at school and I haven't seen him awake since then. =( I had to be at work at 3 and he stays at school until 4. So, my dad picked him up and of course by the time I got home at 11:30 last night he was asleep. This morning I had to be back at work at 7 and once again he was asleep. I am so ready for 3:30 to get here so I can kiss his sweet little cheeks!

I guess I better enjoy the hours while I have them! Tuesday is my last evening shift for awhile. As you know, I've been working full time for awhile now covering for someone and now she is back. I will be going back to working weekends only, and random shifts during the week as needed. I don't know how I'm going to go back to that, but I'm sure I'll make it. At least I will have more time with Parker, and hopefully it will warm up again soon because it has been snowing the past couple of days. Yes, you read that right. Snowing.

I did get to go see The Twins yesterday and took some sweet pictures of them. I've only edited a few, so I'll share them with you. It was so sweet, we dressed them in matching outfits and everything but they didn't want to take pictures together. I did them individually and they were fine, but put them together and the crying would start. I did manage to get one or two that I liked, so that's better than nothing.

http://www.lifefrozen.photoreflect.com/

I can't share a post without posting pics of my sweet angel.

And here's a progress picture of ME! 9 lbs to go =)

Losing is gaining

So I went to my weight watchers meeting today (I missed last weeks meeting) and I lost 3.4 lbs! I'm pretty excited, I only have 9 more pounds until I am at my pre-pregnancy weight. I didn't know if I would ever hit that again! I have lost 66 lbs since Parker was born... crazy, isn't it? The more weight I lose, the better I feel about myself in general. Honestly, I've been at a what's considered a "healthy weight" for a few months now but losing the rest of my weight is gaining myself back. I feel more energized, more active, and most importantly more healthy. Some people look at me and say "What are YOU doing weight watchers for?" I'm sorry, but you don't have to be 100 lbs overweight to do weight watchers, or diet, or exercise. It's a personal choice to want to improve your life and that's what I'm doing.

I got to go see the twins for a little bit this morning, they are so sweet. Kadence smiled great big right at Parker when he was laughing, it was adorable. I dressed them up in their matching outfits that I got them the day after they were born, talk about cute!


Kadence




Kollins

 I'm pretty bummed because it is supposed to get cold again here. I was getting so used to the warm weather, and I was hoping to start the Couch to 5K program tomorrow but I'm such a baby about the cold so I might have to wait. Let's hope I have the motivation to start even if it is a little bit chilly.

Favorites

Things I love about Spring...

Shorts

Sunblock

Swinging...

Hats

Sunglasses

Sandals on little feet

Blue eyes

Things I do not like about Spring...

Dealing with other people's stupidity. This lady was a mother who had her three young children at the park. In one hand she is holding a baby, in the other hand a cigarette. Not to mention, other children (including mine) were constantly running by her because she was a foot away from the play equipment. It took everything in me not to tell her what I thought, but I was good and kept my mouth shut.

I have the day off tomorrow, and we are meeting our friends for a walk in the park! After that we are meeting our other friends at Castle Park.. It should be a fun filled day, but I'm sure we will both be exhausted by the end of it.

Dungeons & Dragons

Castle Park is so great. Okay, it's not actually called castle park. The story of how it came to be is quite sad. The real name is "Boo" Rochman Memorial Park. A couple's young son died in a car wreck near there, and because of his love of dungeons & dragons they decided to build an amazing park in his memory. This park is privately funded by them, and is absolutely free to go to, although they do take donations. There is a huge castle in which kids can climb through, complete with secret passageways, bridges, and towers. There are lots of statues, a couple of concrete dragons, a pretty fountain, trees, characters and monsters everywhere. Needless to say, we love this park.

On Thursday (St. Patty's Day) we met our friends there and Parker was instantly in love. The park is completely fenced in so while I had to stay with him of course, I didn't have to make him hold my hand and he was free to roam. Every 1 year olds dream.

What a wonderful way to remember their son, through the laughter of children enjoying his park.

Spring is here!

Happy Spring everyone! We have been having so much fun in this warm weather. I love it. I don't even think love describes how I feel when it's warm outside, I am a completely different person. We go on walks, hikes, to the park you name it. The other day we went to feed the ducks, which was fun for Parker last year but this year? A blast. He couldn't believe how great the ducks were and he loved watching them eat the bread, he was in awe.



Just seeing his smile of wonder was amazing. Our local park has a trail in the woods, so we decided to try out our new Ergo baby carrier. He also thought this was pretty neat, and I did too because it felt so much better than trying to carry him. He of course had to bring his night-night along, and superman.

And finally, I took pictures of him playing outside the other day in his new hat from Old Navy that I'm in love with. It's getting harder and harder to get him to take good pictures, he's too adventurous and has no fear. Not a bad thing, but not always a good thing either.



100 Posts Later...

I'm still here! Honestly, I wasn't sure if I would keep up with this blog, it seemed like a nice idea and all but I didn't know if I could do. And here I am 100 posts later, still going strong. I've come to rely on blogging as my escape, my journal, my friend. And along the way I have "met" quite a few friends, maybe not like most people make friends, but friends all the same.

Yesterday Parker came home from school with... his first art project. Did I cry? No, not quite, but I definitely had tears in my eyes as I placed it on the fridge. He is getting to be such a big boy; he doesn't have a bottle, he doesn't depend on me for every little thing, he does art projects at school. Sigh. Growing up is such a bittersweet thing. I love not knowing what he is going to learn next and jumping for joy when he does, but I also love living in the right now and enjoying everything about him.

I am so glad to say that Parker is feeling much better. Now if only it would warm up. Thursday is supposed to be really nice, sunny and in the 70s so we are definitely going to go do something fun outdoors. Today we went to McDonalds so he could play for awhile. He finally has learned how to crawl backwards down steps, I used to have to help him and now he does it all by himself no sweat. It was a pretty fun day, except for the part when I had to go to work of course.

Tomorrow my mom is going to watch Parker so I can go with my aunt to take the twins to their 1 months doctor appointment. Can you believe they are 1 month old already? I am so excited to see how much weight they have gained and how well they are doing. They are little blessings, that is for sure!

Sun Flare

This weeks photo challenge at I Heart Faces is "Sun Flare." This is one of my favorite pictures of my godaughter, Addyson. She had just taken a big bite out of this apple picked right off of the tree.

i heart faces

In the air...

Spring RSV is in the air! Blah! Early Friday morning Parker woke up crying, and seemed to be having trouble breathing and was pretty wheezy. I took him into the living room and we watched TV for awhile, which didn't help the crying. Then, we went for a drive and that helped a little bit. I called his doctor office and told them we needed to be seen. They told me I needed to go to the ER. I told them I wasn't going to go to the ER and wait for hours for something that could be addressed right now. I won. We went there to discover that poor Parker has a left ear infection and RSV. He is on an antibiotic and breathing treatments, and that seems to be doing the trick. He's still not his normal self of course but he did feel up to going outside for a little bit yesterday to enjoy the 70 degree weather!

I feel horrible when he doesn't feel good, especially when there is nothing I can do. Luckily I was off yesterday so I was able to stay home with him, and my mom is keeping him today so really hoping he will be in good shape by tomorrow. In other news, I am only 9 lbs away from my prepregnancy weight.So close! Of course, those last 9 are going to be really hard to lose, especially since I didn't work out the past 3 days because Parker is sick. I have 3 months to go, so I only have to lose 3 lbs per month. I think I can handle it, and hopefully will reach my goal early.

Big boy!

Parker is getting to be such a big boy. Quite literally. He had his 15 month well check yesterday and he is 33 inches tall, so he's in the 93rd percentile for height. He is 26 lbs, so 75th for weight. I can't believe how big he is! He also had to get 3 shots and blood drawn for the lead test... he was not happy, and neither was I. I hate seeing him cry, although it seemed more of an anger cry than anything.

In other news, Parker finally learned how to drink out of a straw! We went to Kohls yesterday morning and out to eat at Chili's afterwards and he really wanted to drink out of the little cup they bring him. I always let him try, but he gets frustrated because he can't do it. Put it to his mouth, and he takes a big drink as easy as that! haha He spit most of it out, because he was so shocked but got it down pretty good by the end of the meal. We are officially done with bottles. Last night when it was time for him to go to bed, instead of a bottle I gave him a sippy and he only whined about it for a minute and he drank his milk, I put him to bed, and he slept through the night. He still asks for a "ba" but I just say "Okay, I'll get your milk" and give him the sippy cup. I'm taking the rest of his bottles to the twins tomorrow. I'm so proud of my big boy.

We have a playdate this evening, and we're doing a book exchange! For the little kids and the mommies, I'm pretty excited. I went to the weight watchers meeting yesterday, too. My mom lost 5 lbs, go mom!! I unfortunately didn't lose any, but I am definitely getting toned (thanks to Jillian) so I would say that is part of the problem, muscle weighs more than fat. Anyways, Florida is still 3 months away and I am pretty confident that I will be bathing suit worthy by then. Have to share this picture of Parker, this is how he gives kisses. He has to put his lips like that so he can make the "Mmmmuah" sound. He is so sweet.

Yes, we still wear Christmas jammies in March!

Bye Bye Baba

We have been bottle free ALL DAY long! Yay! He is still going to get a bottle right before he goes to bed, but other than that the bottles have to go. Hopefully within a couple of weeks even the night time bottle will be gone. I hadn't planned on taking it away so early, but since he can't have it at preschool I figured I better stop giving him one so much.

Today started out pretty good, I woke up Parker at 8:30 so that he would get a nap before school. My mom came over and cooked us omelettes with turkey sausage and toast. Yum! Not so much, because about 5 minutes after I was done eating I got up and thought "Hmmm... I have to puke" and proceded to do so, my whole breakfast in fact. I hadn't even felt sick or anything, and felt fine afterwards. Before you start thinking it, no I am not pregnant that is not even a possibility. Just a fluke I guess. He was watching Sesame street this morning and this picture cracks me up, something must have been shocking haha.

The rest of the day went great. I got to go tan, came home and played for awhile and got Parker down for his nap. Then I did my workout, took a shower, and got ready for work. Parker took a 2 hour nap, I could hardly believe it. And with no bottle before! I fed him his lunch and took him to school. He was so excited to be there! It made me feel really good to know he is happy there.

I have some new pictures of the twins, I went to see them Sunday night and they are so sweet. Both of them are doing really well and gaining weight, I could just sit and snuggle them all day long! Here's Kadence

And here's Kollins

Gotta love them!